Zumthor, whose works include the Thermal Baths at Vals (1996) and the Bruder Klaus Kapelle (2007), follows in the footsteps of fellow Basel architects Herzog & de Meuron, who won the award in 2007.

The Japan Art Association has assigned the Praemium Imperiale annually since 1989 for an artist’s life work in each of five categories: painting, sculpture, architecture, music and theatre/film. It is endowed with 15 million Yen (SFr160,000).

According to the jury, Zumthor “earnestly examines the location and purpose of a building, and spares no effort in selecting the most suitable materials for it. He insists on ‘custom-made architecture'”.

Zumthor was born in Basel in 1943, began an apprenticeship in cabinet-making in 1958 and started his own practice in the Swiss village of Haldenstein in 1979.

“Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness” is quite different than “Liberté, Égalité y Fraternité” [Liberty, Equality & Brotherhood]. The American mindset has been formulated to glorify individual success and to define successes as individual accomplishments. The truth is that most successes are the result of collective efforts… one idea built on another until there is a result that has some sort of recognition and usefulness.

The development of the computer and software is an excellent example of that collective achievement and it also is an example of the credit going to a small number of people….

What I think we need is a mindset of Life, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity & the Pursuit of Happiness.